Kiwiblog

NIWA have released:

The nation-wide average temperature for 2011 was 12.8°C, 0.3°C above the 1971–2000 annual average, using NIWA’s seven-station temperature series which begins in 1909.  2011 was the 17th warmest year since 1909, based on this 7-station series.

17th warmest. Some extremes though:

The highest recorded extreme temperature of the year (41.3°C) occurred at Timaru on 6 February (a new all-time high temperature record in the area).

Ouch. Also of interest is how each month compared to the norm for that month:

• Jan +0.3
• Feb +0.7
• Mar +0.0
• Apr -0.4
• May +2.2
• Jun +1.5
• Jul +0.1
• Aug -0.5
• Sep -0.7
• Oct +0.3
• Nov -0.2
• Dec +0.2

May was a scorcher.

The highest mean temp was 16.7 in Leigh and lowest was 7.6 at the Chateau, Mt Ruapehu.

Most rainfall was 9.49m at Cropp River and least was 0.39m at Clyde.

Nelson had the most sunshine with 2487 hours (6.8 hours a day) and Franz Josef the least at 1598 hours (4.4 hours a day).

It has been a tough 12 months for New Zealand. 11 months ago, we had the Pike River explosion, and then in February the second Christchurch earthquake. On top of that, we’ve watched as countries big (US) and small (Greece) topple on the edge of disaster with debt defaults, and have wondered how badly will we be hit, if one or more countries drown under their debt burdens.

So when we won the hosting rights in 2005, who would have thought it would prove such a tonic for our country. It has captured our collective spirit in a way I’ve not seen with any other sports tournament. Why has it been so good? Many, many factors. Here’s some of the factors and people to thank in my opinion.

• Jock Hobbs and Helen Clark for winning us the hosting rights. My third favourite moment of the RWC was having Jock Hobbs present Rochie McCaw with his 100th test cap.
• Leon Grice and the RWC2011 team who implemented the concept of a stadium of four million people. Leon told me at a fairly early stage about the plans (which were part of the bid) to have teams and overseas fans “hosted” by various cities and towns, and it was an inspired idea that worked magnificently.
• Martin Snedden and the NZRFU who organised the tournament so well. I loved the choirs, and the Oles at each kick off!
• The four million Kiwis who loved being great hosts. It’s something we excel at.
• Also those who attended the games and cheered passionately for whichever team we adopted for the day. For many of the teams, they probably played to a bigger more supportive home crowd than they ever got at home.
• The party central and fan zones. They were brilliant. We are (mostly) social creatures and even the largest pub can only hold so many. They were almost too popular in Auckland, but also made the rest of the country feel part of the action.
• RWC Minister Murray McCully. Murray gets a fair bit of flak for his hands on management style and one journalist famously said Murray makes Helen Clark’s micro-management look like benign neglect! But in this case, Murray and his team’s attention to detail have  paid off in spades.
• The RWC Opening Ceremony. The comparison to 1987 RWC is like comparing humans to apes. The ceremony was Olympic-class. It was my second favourite moment of the tournament.
• The minnow teams. They all played their best games, and all 48 matches were good games to watch. This wasn’t a tournament of three or four countries, but all 20. If it were not for Canada, France would not have even made the quarter-finals, let alone the final.
• The mighty All Blacks.  They won the average pool game by 60 points to 12 – a 48 point margin. They won their quarter-final by 23 points, their semi-final by 14 points and the final by one point.
• While it is a team effort, Graham Henry and Richie McCaw impressed and inspired as coach and captain. Richie one day will sit in Olympus as one of the Gods of the game.
• The French. They hit their top form just when it was needed, to give the All Blacks the fight of their lives. The French and the Welsh should both be proud of their team’s achievements.
• The Final. I’ve never been so caught up in a game. God knows what would have happened if we had lost. I now understand why 30% of NZers said the outcome of the RWC mattered more to them than the election outcome. I was living in terror of the drop goal. Breating was optional for those last few minutes.
• The Award Ceremony. This was my number one moment of the tournament, with two parts resonating especially. McCaw holding the Webb Ellis Cup aloft. That moment will become as iconic as David Kirk’s 24 years earlier. But the most emotional moment was when the Cup was taken onto the ground by a Canterbury boy whose mother had died in the earthquake. His beaming smile of joy led to many a tear being shed, as people reflected how rare such smiles has probably been since the earthquake.

So it has been a great six weeks, and the All Blacks are world champions. Despite the euphoria, I think this will be the last Rugby World cup we host in New Zealand. But it will be a tournament that I know I, and many others, will never forget.

Feel free to share below your favourite memories. No negativity on this thread please. If you feel the need, go to General Debate.

Well the New Zealand All Blacks are the world champions by 8 points to 7. Let the celebrations begin!!!!

But full credit to the French who played a magnificent game, and performed so very very well that they must be gutted not to have won, but should be proud of their play.

MSD commissioned a longitudinal survey of 7,000 children born from 2008 to 2010 in the Aucland and Waikato areas. Auckland University will continue surveying them until they reach 21 years old. This is going to give us a huge amount of incredibly useful data, and yesterday the first tranche was released.

The study has a dedicated website at Growing Up.

The large size of 7,000 means it can be taken to reflect the whole of NZ. Already the antenatal data is fascinating:

• 40 percent of children were unplanned
• More than one in 10 mothers continued to smoke through their pregnancies, including 34% of Maori mothers. Onlu 0.4% of Asian mothers smoke during pregnancy.
• Many mothers consumed alcohol during pregnancy
• Forty nine percent of mothers identify as NZ European, 18 percent as Māori, 15 percent as Pacific and 15 percent as Asian
• One in three of the Growing Up children have at least one parent born overseas
• One in five children will grow up in homes where English is not the main language (although 97 percent of mothers and partners are able to converse in everyday English)
• Twenty-eight percent of mothers live either on their own or with extended family (sometimes including their partner)
• Five percent of mothers are teenagers
• Ten percent of mothers needed fertility assistance to get pregnant
• Nearly half (45 percent) of mothers in high deprivation areas were unaware of Working for Families
• the average age of parents having children in New Zealand (first or subsequent) is now greater than 30 years;
• Only 60% of parents are in a legally binding relationship
• 45% of families have a first child have household income of over $100,000 per annum
• Only 3% of mothers whose pregnancy was planned had no qualifications while 14% of mothers whose pregnancy was unplanned had no qualifications.
• 49% of planned pregnancy mothers have a degree vs 22% of unplanned pregnancy mothers
• 70% of mothers had a previous pregnancy, and of that 70%, 17% had the previous pregnancy end before 24 weeks

I find it interesting that those who most need Working for Families were least aware of it. Maybe there should have been less TV ads showing kids enjoying ipods, and more targeted direct mail.

The stats on smoking during pregnancy are a shocker – especially when you consider the huge amount of money given to literally dozens of Maori groups to try and reduce smoking rates amongst Maori.

Lots and lots of data to reflect on.

Bill English’s office has put out a comparison of real (CPI adjusted) net (after tax) wage growth for a full-time worker on the average (mean) wage.

The Australian data only goes back to 1994, so the first time period compared is Sep 1994 to Sep 1999 – the final quarter before Labour took office.

During those five years the real net income for a FT worker on the average wage rose 13.2% in New Zealand and 6.2% in Australia.

Then over the next nine years from September 1999 to September 2008, the increase in New Zealand was 3.0% and in Australia it was 19.3%. Yep six times greater in Australia. They had high wages, low inflation and tax cuts. We had no tax cuts, higher inflation and lower wage increases.

From Since September 2008, to June 2010, the increase in New Zealand has been 8.7% vs 4.8% in Australia.

If one translates this to average annual increases, then the comparison would be:

• Sep 94 – Sep 99 – 2.6% NZ vs 1.2% Aust
• Sep 99 – Sep 08 – 0.3% NZ vs 2.1% Aust
• Sep 08 – Jun 10 – 5.0% NZ vs 2.7% Aust

Now the time periods used are slightly cheery picked, in that the latest period includes both the April 2009 tax cuts and the October 2008 tax cuts – so they do not correspond exactly to Government terms. But on the other hand Labour did the Oct 2008 tax cuts most grudgingly, because of the election, and probably would ave cancelled them if they had retained office.

The stat that stands out to me is that during those nine years from Sep 99 to Sep 08, the average after tax income only grew 0.3% a year. Fiscal drag mean someone on the average wage paid more and more tax as their salary increased.

John Key has just announced that Kevin Rudd will visit on 29th of June for talks on progressing the single economic market for Australia and NZ.

The PMs always meet up annually, but what is unusual is that Rudd has been invited to address the House of Representatives – the first foreign leader to do so.

This seems quite a smart move to me – emphasises the special relationship between the two countries.

Will try and pop into the gallery to see this.

The SST reports Sir Ian McKellen’s interview where he reveals Helen Clark told him that NZ was deeply racist.

For example, I met Helen Clark while I was in Wellington. I was invited to her official residence, and waved in by a lone policeman who didn’t even check who I was, then I had a barbecue with her. I congratulated her on the public’s enlightened attitudes towards racial issues, but she disagreed. She said to me that New Zealand was really a very racist country , and she was determined to do everything she could as prime minister to change that.

First I could comment with bemusement how Helen thought attacking critics of her law removing the right of Iwi to go to court by labelling them”haters and wreckers” changed things for the better.

But I am sure that McKennen is correct and Helen did and does think NZ is a deeply racist country. We saw this when she spoke out on the Police shooting of Steve Wallace as being to do with racist attitudes. The fact the officer who had to fire the gun was also Maori was an inconvenient fact.

So in one sense, Clark’s view of New Zealand as deeply racist is no surprise. It would be interesting to ask her successor as Labour Leader whether or not he agrees with his former boss that New Zealand is a very racist country, and what does he plan to do to change it.

The HoS reports:

According to a global survey on market research website onepoll.com, New Zealand women are the most sexually experienced in the world, with an average of 20.4 sexual partners in a lifetime, more than any other nationality.

Comedian Michele A’Court thinks the findings prove New Zealand women are more honest than those in other countries.

In the US, for example, some young women proudly proclaim their virginity, despite engaging in non-penetrative sex acts, she says. “Without making myself sound like a slapper, my initial reaction is that 20.4 doesn’t sound like a huge amount over a lifetime.”

20 is quite a bit more than Cactus Kate’s number and quite a bit less than Busted Blonde’s!

Society has changed massively in the last 30 years. Women used to not go to university, work for a few years, marry their first or second boyfriend in their early 20s and start popping out kids.

Now far more women than men go to university, and are career focused. I’d say the same proportion still want kids, but not until the early to mid 30s – and generally one or two only.

And this reflects in relationships also. As the baby age has got older, the marrying age has changed from 20ish to 30ish. And in that extra ten years of singledom, a couple of different bonks a year isn’t a huge deal.

Sexologist Dr Michelle Mars puts the result down to the failings of Kiwi blokes.

“New Zealand men aren’t very good at picking up women unless they’re really drunk. So what tends to happen is in New Zealand, women are just as likely to ask men to have sex as men are to ask women.

Heh, Australian women are even more, umm, assertive.

“While a lot of people would read that statistic quite negatively, I think it’s quite a positive. It’s more of a gender balance in people getting the kind of sex they want.”

Former gossip columnist Bridget Saunders, who is writing a book on bad sex, believes New Zealand women are “incredibly sexually active” and is worried by the trend.

“A lot of it is to do with the new ‘ladette’ culture,” she says. “It’s almost like wanting to be one of the boys, or to be more like one of the boys than the boys are themselves.”

One sees the ladette culture, in more than just the bedroom. Go to a rugby match – once they were 90% male spectators, and now there are huge numbers of female fans.

Society used to teach young men and women to have very different expectations in life. Women’s job was to get married and have kids, and men’s job is to get a good job and by the family provider. Men with multiple partners were studs and women were sluts. Men were seen as more suited to higher education, and women were not.

I think one of the best things about living in today’s world, as opposed to in the past, has been the increasing equality of women.  WWII started the cultural change, and it has been for the better – even if some people don’t like the fact that women are catching up to men in the bedroom stakes – not just the education and work stakes.

A Paulus Telfer has applied to the Electoral Commission, to register the logo below as the official logo for a 51st state party:

Yes that is 51 stars on there. Six rows, with half having nine stars and half having eight stars. The current US flag has nine rows, with five rows of six, and four rows of five.

Mr Telfer incidentally stood for Mayor of Christchurch and got 289 votes. Bob Parker won with 46,104.

Anyway I thought I would see if I could come up with ten reasons why we should become the 51st state of the United States.

1. We would now get to bully Australia
2. No more royal tours
3. Cheaper gas
4. The SAS would get the much cooler name of Delta Force
5. We would now be the possessors of the Olympic Gold Medal for Rugby Union
6. We instantly have an effective free trade agreement with the US
7. The ANZUS Treaty would then become the A’n'US treaty.
8. Just as one has African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Arab-Americans, we would be Kiwi-Americans
9. No longer would need to fund MFAT
10. Someone earning NZ$100,000 (US$70,000) would pay 19.5% federal income tax instead of the average 29.5% currently imposed.

Muslim integration in Europe has been pretty much a disaster in many countries, but in New Zealand we are doing well:

Muslim teenagers in New Zealand adapt well to life in New Zealand, a Victoria University study has found.

The study, carried out on 180 Muslim teens, by the Centre for Applied Cross-Cultural Research, measured their psychological and social well-being by examining life satisfaction, psychological conditions, school adjustment and behavioural issues, Professor Colleen Ward said.

The study, carried out as part of a 13-country survey of well-being and identity, drew on data from previous studies carried out in New Zealand, on other groups of teens, as comparison.

The findings revealed Muslim youth demonstrated more positive outcomes on all indicators than their Maori and Pakeha peers, Prof Ward said.

The combination of strong family support, religion and New Zealand’s relatively tolerant atmosphere helped the Muslim 13- to 19-year-olds keep well, she said.

Though the students identified themselves as New Zealanders and the ethnic group they were from, their strongest identification was with being a Muslim, the researchers found. …

The cultural environment of New Zealand allowed people to integrate, keeping their culture and ethnic groups, rather than assimilating them and forcing them to abandon the culture they came from, as in some other countries, she said.

I’m not sure what other countries they are talking about, but in most of Europe the problem hasn’t been assimilation, but an unwillingness to integrate at all. However in the US, they are much better with integration.

Audrey Young writes:

The United States is poised to drop its ban on military exercises with New Zealand.

The move will be a significant step in a thaw in the NZ-US relationship that has accelerated since Barack Obama became President a little over a year ago.

The Weekend Herald understands it is likely to be announced next week when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, Kurt Campbell, visit New Zealand.

That is basically the end of the “hostilities” which has existed since 1985. It took 25 years, but common sense has prevailed. It has been silly to ban exercises between our military forces, yet have them fighting together in places like Afghanistan.

Presumably this means we are allies again, and not just very very very good friends

Mrs Clinton announced last year that intelligence-sharing co-operation between the two countries had also resumed.

In a further sign of the fast-track thaw, it is understood that President Obama has twice informally invited Prime Minister John Key to Washington.

The visit is likely to take place within six months.

Add on the progress on the free trade front, and you have to say very successful diplomacy from New Zealand.

The Herald reports:

TOP TEN

1. France
2. Australia
3. Switzerland
4. Germany
5. New Zealand
6. Luxembourg
7. United States
8. Belgium
9. Canada
10. Italy

Pleased NZ is No 5 but Luxembourg at 6? Sure they have high wages but it is such a boring place. Maybe it gets marks for being so small you can walk into France for a picnic.

Transparency International has effectively ranked New Zealand as the least corrupt country on Earth. That’s obviously a good thing. But to some degree they can be self fulfilling prophecies as much of the data is based on perceptions of corruption.

So to be absolutely precise NZ was perceived as having the lowest level of corruption in the public sector of the 180 countries surveyed

The top five countries are:

1. New Zealand 9.4
2. Denmark 9.3
3. Singapore 9.2
4. Sweden 9.2
5. Switzerland 9.2

The bottom five are:

1. Somalia 1.1
2. Afghanistan 1.3
3. Myanmar 1.4
4. Sudan 15
5. Iraq 1.5

Countries I have been in recently:

1. USA 7.5
2. Turkey 4.4
3. Kuwait 4.1
4. Thailand 3.4
5. Egypt 2.8

As I said above, this doesn’t mean we are corruption free. Taito Philip Field is an example of how that is not true. It is more than any corruption is not systemic.

The Herald reports on the Global Gender Gap Index. NZ is 5th from the top (ie the 5th smallest gap) which is pleasing. 2009 is the third year in the row in 5th place.

The breakdown by category is:

• Economic Participation and Opportunity 7th
• Educational Attainment 1st=
• Health & Survival72nd
• Political Empowerment 7th

I noted in 2007:

Note however this is not a measure of how well off women are generally in each country – it is a measure of how they do compared to men.

So while the US may be in 31st place, you’d probably rather be a woman there than in Lesotho which is 26th.

And:

Looking further at the raw data, one soon realises that the educational and health scores have almost no effect because all the countries are so close together. The top score in education is 100% and the median score is 98.9%. Going to health the top score is 98.0% and the median is 97.6%. …

So in reality this gender gap ranking is primarily a ranking of political empowerment.  We see this because four countries which top the political empowerment section also top the overall survey.

There is an interesting correlation between how competitive a country is, and the gender gap:

Figure 7 shows a plot of the Global Gender Gap Index 2009 scores against the Global Competitiveness Index 2009–2010 scores, while Figure 8 plots the Global Gender Gap Index 2009 scores against GDP per capita.We have produced these graphs in all previous editions of the Report; both graphs once again confirm the correlation between gender equality and the level of development of countries.The correlation is evident despite the fact that, as opposed to other gender indexes, the Global Gender Gap Index explicitly eliminates any direct impact of the absolute levels of any of the variables (e.g., life expectancy, educational attainment, labour force participation) on the Index.While correlation does not prove causality, it is consistent with the theory and mounting evidence that empowering women means a more efficient use of a nation’s human talent.

Some of Japan’s economic problems are put down to their cultural reluctance to have women fully participate in the work force.

The NZ country profile is interesting. Some stats:

• NZ is 1st in the world for female professional and technical workers 0 outnumbering males 54% to 36%
• NZ also has massively high female participation in tertiary education
• We rank 15th for female legislators and 18th for female Ministers at 34% and 32% respoectively
• We rank 8th for female as head of state, being 11 of the last 50 years. Not sure if they mean Head of Govt or Head of State. In theory we have had a female Head of State for 50 of the last 50 years

The Dom Post reports:

It’s possible to be Kiwi, Muslim and an All Black fan, says MICHAEL FOX, but it’s not always an easy road.

Young Muslims in New Zealand have impressed their elders by integrating well through adopting a laid-back Kiwi attitude, supporting the All Blacks and embracing the local culture.

And integration over isolation is the key, in my opinion. Integration does not mean assimilation where everyone is the same, in some Borg like collective. The diversity of races, cultures and religions in New Zealand is a great thing, with integration and tolerance for others being the key.

As Muslims gather in Auckland this weekend for their first national convention, they will be reflecting on why young followers have avoided problems such as violent crime associated with disenfranchised youth in other countries.

Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand president Anwar-ul Ghani called the convention a hui.

“Our community is now getting quite a reasonable size and really once in a year we need to start to have a hui like this to reflect on things and get the grassroots involved.

“We need to strengthen our Islamic belief and way of life and yet identify ourselves as Kiwi Muslims.”

Even just little things such as calling their convention a hui, is quite cool – it is reflecting that Kiwi side.

There are now almost 50,000 Muslims in New Zealand.

Dr Ghani says young Muslims are leading the way in integration. He believes they are “Kiwianised”, with as much interest in New Zealand’s popular culture as their own.

He says this is in marked contrast with European countries where youths have felt like outsiders and rebelledthrough crime, riots and terrorism.

“I won’t say that it is not an issue [in New Zealand] but it is certainly less of an issue. We’re finding that the transition is reasonably smooth.”

I think in New Zealand we are remarkably blessed that the extremism and isolationist you get in the UK, much of Europe and even Australia is very rare here.

I think part of the credit goes to the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand themselves. While obviously I have different views on issues, they have always struck me as taking their leadership position responsibily. And the fact that they are led by an accountant with NZ Post, rather than a DVD distributing preacher, is helpful.

She said Muslims could remain strong in their faith while also identifying themselves as New Zealanders. “When people ask me where I’m from I don’t have any answer to them apart from New Zealand, although I don’t look like a typical Kiwi. I’m definitely Muslim and I’m definitely a New Zealander.”

Wellington’s Aneesa Adam, 27, who grew up in New Zealand with her Fiji Indian parents, said a clash between faith and Kiwi values occasionally posed problems. “As a teenager at times things were a little bit difficult, particularly with things like drinking. I basically had to choose who my friends were.”

Ms Adam didn’t wear a headscarf until she started university because she was self-conscious.

“As a teenager I was always too shy. As I got older it just became easier and I decided that I was ready to wear it.

“As soon as people see you wearing a scarf there’s immediately a barrier and an idea that they have about you. For younger people I think it’s harder, but as an adult it’s very easy and people are very good about it.”

She said Muslims could remain strong in their faith while also identifying themselves as New Zealanders. “When people ask me where I’m from I don’t have any answer to them apart from New Zealand, although I don’t look like a typical Kiwi. I’m definitely Muslim and I’m definitely a New Zealander.”

One of my favourite sayings is that the only thing I am intolerant of is intolerance. I’m not sure there is such a thing as a typical Kiwi, but I think diversity is a great thing.

AFP reports:

AN interracial couple in Louisiana have been denied a marriage license by an official who considers their union morally wrong, according to local media.

“I’m not a racist,” Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace in rural Tangipahoa Parish, told the Hammond Star.

“I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house. My main concern is for the children.”

Mr Bardwell told the paper that he believes interracial marriages do not last and that the children of such unions are not accepted by either the black or white community.

Now of course Bardwell is bonkers to think it is his job to decide whether or not a couple should be able to get married, based on his beliefs. He does the classic groupist error of applying a generalisation to everyone (and of thinking it is his decision anyway).

It did get me interested in what is the prevalance of “mixed race” marriages and whether or not their divorce rates are higher than “same race” marriages.

In NZ we have traditionally had a high rate of mixed race marriages, as all modern Maori New Zealanders have at least one European ancestor. I do wonder if we have current stats on this – presumably the census data could reveal this.

In the US, only 2.8% of black women and 6.6% of black men had a white spouse. While 41% of Asian women have a white husband and 36% of Asian men have a white wife. So a big difference in prevalence depending on the races involved.

In terms of divorce rates Wikipedia says:

Marital stability studies published on the Education Resources Information Center found that White female-Black male unions are more prone to result in a divorce than White-White marriages are, while Black female-White male marriages show similar or lower risks of divorce than White-White marriages.

So Bardwell is wrong with his generalisation also.

As I said, I would be interested to see what the prevalence of mixed race/culture marriages are in NZ, and if there are differences in the divorce rates. Anyone know of any studies already done?

Some parts of the UN are an embarrassing disgrace, such as the UN Human Rights Council. NZ was campaigning for a seat on that, and fortunately we abandoned that for Obama to allow the US to rejoin.

The UN Security Council is one of the few parts that really is worthwhile, and I think New Zealand will have a fair chance of gaining a place. We were successful the last time we stood.

An insightful column by Fran:

But with China poised to overtake the United States within a decade as the world’s largest economy, it is no surprise that the implications of China’s rapid economic rise were given considerable focus during New Zealand and Australia’s first joint Cabinet meeting in Sydney eight days ago.

Herald inquiries indicate Rudd went to considerable lengths to outline why the two Australasian countries should move closer together at a strategic level through maintaining “close foreign policy settings” during a lengthy overview he gave as co-chair of the joint Cabinet.

The issue barely rated a mention in the two prime minister’s joint press statements. But Herald inquiries indicate that Rudd strongly positioned the impact of China’s rise on Australasia during a lengthy strategic overview.

Several Cabinet Ministers from both sides privately credit the “risks based” analysis – above all other factors – as paramount in the Rudd Government’s decision to focus on New Zealand’s strategic utility to Australia, by moving to finalise single economic market negotiations by 2015. And to increase military co-operation to protect (if needed) supply lines between Australasia and the region during possible fractious times ahead.

This would explain why Australia has gone from luke warm to highly receptive on the move to a single economic market.

For most of our existence our location has been a barrier economically. In the next century, we may find being so close to Asia is a life saver. The US economy, and to a lesser degree the EU, could struggle to match Asian economic power in a few years.

Under this scenario, Australia – as a country with “middle power” pretensions – will increase its regional impact by drawing New Zealand further within its own strategic sphere of influence.

This is where NZ needs to be a bit careful. While I am fully supportive of closer economic ties with Australia, we must not lose our identity. NZ is generally held in higher esteem than Australia with most Asian countries – partly because we are non-threatening, but also because we have never been seen as the US Deputy Sheriff.

Rudd – who thinks deeply about strategic issues – believes that unlike previous downturns, Australia and New Zealand cannot rely on American consumers to quickly refuel global economic growth through another debt-fuelled spending binge. Both New Zealand and Australia thus needed to focus on how to sustain their respective economies.

Both prime ministers share the belief that it is in the countries’ interests to strongly brand Australasia as an investment destination focused on quality products and lifestyles, and, are concerned at the upcoming “war for talent” implied by changing demographics.

Key, in particular, sees a future where both nations will have to pay “near global price” to attract and retain highly-skilled people such as doctors, lawyers and engineers.

By drawing closer together the two “Europeans in Asia” will be able to more strongly position themselves as the Asian century develops.

This makes us closing the gap with Australia even more important. You want to keep doctors, lawyers and engineers? Well maybe then allowing mining on 0.0001% of the conservation estate is not the end of the world.

I’m a fan of there being a common border with Australia, so one can travel between the two countries as if it was a domestic flight. It is great, in Europe, being able to cross country borders with no passport checks etc.

Ironically I’m just old enough to remember being able to travel to Australia without a passport – the requirement to have one only came about in the early 80s I think.

Anyway good t0 see Rudd and Key wanting to make a decision this year on a common border – rather than wait until 2015.

The Herald on Sunday reports on an ASB report on the top places for families to live. They are:

1. Wellington
2. Queenstown Lakes
3. Selwyn
4. North Shore
5. Ashburton
6=. Auckland
6=. Waimakariri
8. Porirua
9. Christchurch
10. Rodney

I’m very amused that Ashburton is above Auckland and Porirua above Christchurch

The New Year Honours 2009 List was approved by the previous Government, as is traditional.

A rare appointment has been made to the top run of the NZ Order of Merit – Principal Companion. This is equal to the old Grand Cross Knight, and it goes to Professor Ngatata Love. Few would disagree – he has been the voice of Maori in Wellington for many decades.

There are four appointments to the Order as Distinguished Companions, equivalent to the old Knights and Dames. They are:

1. Dr Claudia Orange
2. Professor David Skegg
3. Murray Wells
4. Margaret Wilson

Mr Wells is possibly not as well known as the other three. Some may not like Wilson’s appointment, but it used to be traditional for the Speaker to be knighted, and she has been given the equivalent.

Some of the CNZMs are:

• Brian Corban
• Steve Maharey
• Mark Prebble
• John Werry
• Mike Rann (Premier of South Australia)

Congratulations to all those granted honours.

The Dom Post reports:

Primary school children’s science achievement has plummeted to its worst level in 14 years, sparking urgent action by the Education Ministry.

An international study shows New Zealand year 5 pupils are doing worse in maths and science than children in more than half the other 36 countries surveyed. …

Kiwi children’s maths and science results were significantly worse than other surveyed English-speaking countries, including England, Australia and the United States – though we fared marginally better than Scotland.

They also did worse than Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Latvia, Germany, Italy, Russia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Hungary and Kazakhstan.

So Kiwi kids are doing worse in maths and science than kids in Kazakhstan, despite their GDP per capita being only US$6,748 compared to US$30,390 for NZ.

And this is year five students. Just one more reason why we need national testing to detect at an early stage those kids who are not handling basic literacy and numeracy.

Lloyd Morrison has proposed a goal for New Zealand – to be in the top ten countries in the world by 2025 for GDP per capita. He writes:

New Zealand lacks a common purpose. No one knows exactly what we want. We hanker for a return to the times when we were one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We want everyone to be better off, knowing that individual wealth does not result in freedom from crime and the social fallout of excessive disparity. However, there is no clearly articulated goal we are pursuing and no solid plan of how we can get there.

As a result, there is no definition or accountability for policies or policy-makers. Policies are often clothed with loose positive objectives and ultimately ineffective aims. There is no co-ordinated accountability for these policies (or politicians) in terms of their ability to contribute towards a common measurable outcome. Consequently, we continue our steady decline. As the attached analysis shows, current forecasts have our GDP per capita slipping below Kazakhstan and Botswana by 2025.

I’ve been discussing this with colleagues and friends, and we believe that NZ needs to embrace a common objective that will provide the means to deliver what we are seeking as a nation.

Whatever the objective chosen, it needs to be simple, clear, measureable, understandable, aspirational and, most importantly, catalytic in terms of driving positive change that makes the outcome achievable.

We’d like to stimulate a broader discussion over what that goal should be for NZ. To kick-off the debate, here’s our starter for ten: NZ should aim to be back in the top 10 countries in the world based on GDP per capita by 2025. Not just the OECD, the world. Unachievable? No way. Ireland, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan all achieved the required level of growth over the last twenty years. It will take real collective commitment and more creative thinking about our economy – but that’s exactly what an ambitious goal will generate.

I’m hoping you’ll participate in a broader discussion about an aspirational, measurable goal for New Zealand. Please read the attached document. Pass it on to your friends. Participate in the debate by emailing measurablegoal@hrlmorrison.com or contributing to the forum on www.blog.nzx.com. If you agree with what we’re proposing, show your support. If you don’t, please share your ideas for a national goal. Together, let’s take the first step in defining and delivering a better future for New Zealand.

Lloyd has out together this (a-measurable-goal-for-nz-short-2) presentation that is worth reading and also an FAQ – a-measurable-goal-for-new-zealand-_2_.

If you don’t like Lloyd’s goal, then suggest one of your own.

Paul Walker has blogged Zimbabwe’s new annual inflation rate.

It is 10.2 quadrillion precent. That is 10.2 million billion or 10,200,000,000,000,000%.

That makes me feel better about NZ hitting 5.1%. But only slightly.

The LA Times reports on how it is a trans-Tasman battle for medals per capita with Australia 2nd and NZ 3rd. I suspect we will slip back by the end of the Olympics though.

If Michael Phelps was a nation, he’d definitely win the medals per capita count

Later today Phelps competes for his 8th gold medal. It is the 4 x 100 m medley relay. It was very close in the heats.